The rumours were true: Apple ditched the audio jack in the new iPhone 7, kept the same look as the iPhone 6S and added a camera in the Plus version.
This evening at an event in San Fransisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage to tell the audience how yet again "nothing has changed... but everything", a popular tagline often bandied about by the conglomerate.
The iPhone 7 features the same slim design as its predeccosor, the iPhone 6S, but now comes in an additional colour, jet black.
The new device is water-resistant with a high-resolution camera, and the larger Plus version features a 12MP dual-camera set-up. One camera has a wide-angle lens and the other is a telephoto lens. This allows users to zoom in on objects without having to use software that decreases the picture quality. It also allows photographers to create a shallow-depth-of-field effect and blur the background in pictures.
It also removed the analogue headphone jack, as was widely expected. The new headphones supplied by Apple with the phone will plug into the same port as the recharging cord, but it will also work with Apple's new wireless headphones, called Air Pods.
Inside the smartphones are new generation chips, called A10 Fusion, that the company claims have twice the performace levels as last year's model.
The company typically gives its main product, which accounts for more than half of its revenue, a big makeover every other year. The last major redesign was the iPhone 6 in 2014. The modest updates suggest this cycle will be three years.
The iPhone 7 will start at $649 for the 32GB version (Apple did away with 16GB devices) and around $900 for the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB.
South Africa is not included in the list of countries that will get the iPhone in the next two months.
Just playing
Other updates and products launched this evening included two popular games and the company's next rendition of its smartwatch.
The new Apple Watch, called Series 2, comes in a special version for runners, the Apple Watch Nike Plus.
The new watch is 'swim-proof' and will be available in more than 25 countries from 16 September.
"I predict Watch sales will improve dramatically," said tech analyst Patrick Moorhead. "Most of the current Watch owners are early adopters and the next wave could be 10 times the size of that market."
The classic Super Mario game is coming to the new phone and Pokémon Go will feature on the upgraded Apple Watch.
The excitement at the Bill Graham auditorium in San Francisco was not matched on Wall Street, where Apple's stock was down 0.4%. However, Nintendo US-listed shares jumped more than 20% to trade around $35 on hopes its games would reach a new audience.
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